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Federal investigators are continuing to widen and deepen their probe of first son Hunter Biden, according to a Thursday report.
CBS News noted that Hunter Biden’s paternity and tax records have all been subpoenaed by federal prosecutors, according to documents and an attorney who is involved in the situation.
“They wanted every record relating to Hunter Biden we had,” said Clint Lancaster in an interview with CBS News.
Lancaster represented Lunden Roberts, the woman who filed a lawsuit against Hunter Biden in 2019 claiming that he is the father of her child.
The network continued:
A December 2020 subpoena from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Delaware, obtained by CBS News, requested all documents “regarding [Hunter] Biden’s income, assets, debts, obligations, and financial transactions… and all personal and business expenditures.” The request specified January 2017 to the present.
The subpoena also requested a wide range of tax documents pertaining to Hunter Biden.
“All federal, state, local and foreign tax documentation related to Biden including but not limited to, IRS Forms 1099, income and payroll tax returns, state tax returns, and amended tax returns,” says the subpoena, according to CBS News.
The first son’s business and personal activities have been under scrutiny by federal investigators since before the 2020 presidential election cycle, though Republicans used the investigation in political attacks on his father, now President Joe Biden.
“The move by federal authorities to obtain these records offers a new, if narrow, glimpse into the long-running investigation into the president’s son — a probe that began as a tax inquiry several years ago,” CBS News continued.
“Lancaster told CBS News that in the fall of 2021, the Assistant U.S. Attorney in Delaware, Lesley Wolf, traveled to his Arkansas law office, joined by at least two federal agents, one from the FBI and the other an IRS enforcement agent. Lancaster said he and his client spent about half a day answering questions about Hunter Biden and his business practices,” the report continued.
The lawyer said that during the meeting, federal investigators sought information regarding a number of companies Hunter Biden is affiliated with, including Rosemont Seneca Partners, a firm where he worked for many years.
Meanwhile, a second investigation involving a 2019 subpoena from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware is reportedly progressing as well. That subpoena, which CBS News was able to obtain, sought “all records, documents and accounts pertaining to all financial/banking transactions” between 15 business entities and Hunter Biden as well as the president’s brother James and a pair of business partners dating back to 2014 when Joe Biden was vice president.
Lancaster noted that Hunter Biden handed over an “affidavit of financial means” during the paternity suit providing details regarding his income and finances via statements and a listing of monthly expenses.
CBS News continued:
An Arkansas court filing from November 2019 states, “DNA testing has established with scientific certainty” that Hunter Biden is the father of Roberts’ child. The child is believed to be around 3 years old today. The paternity case was settled in 2020. Some of the records in the case are under seal.
The U.S. Attorney’s office has not commented on the status or objectives of their investigation into Hunter Biden. The office also declined to answer CBS’ questions about Lancaster’s account.
A retired federal prosecutor told CBS News the actions described by Lancaster suggest an aggressive effort by investigators working on behalf of the U.S. Attorney in Delaware.
“The whole thing is as serious as a heart attack,” Harry Litmann, who spent two decades at the Department of Justice, including as a U.S. Attorney, told the network. “People are going in and out of the grand jury. They are trying to plumb the depths. They’re playing hardball.”
According to initial reporting by the New York Post in October 2020, a few weeks before the election, Hunter Biden and Joe Biden were implicated in a series of business deals that involved foreign companies and partners in Ukraine, Russia, and China, leading some Republicans to suspect that the president could be compromised.